Coffee ground vomiting

Coffee ground vomiting refers to a particular appearance of vomit. Blood that has been exposed to gastric acid undergoes certain chemical changes which, it is said, makes it look like ground coffee. It is a classic sign of upper gastro-intestinal bleeding. A peptic ulcer, for example, may bleed into the stomach and produce coffee-ground vomitus.

When bright red blood is vomited, this is termed hematemesis, and melenais black stool often found in significant upper gastro-intestinal bleeding.

See also

• Upper gastrointestinal bleed

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee+ground+vomiting Wikipedia article Coffee ground vomiting.